A plasma display panel (hereinafter, referred to as PDP) has a structure in which the peripheries of a front panel and a rear panel which face each other are sealed and bonded by a sealing member. A discharge gas such as neon or xenon is filled in a discharge space formed between the front panel and the rear panel. The front panel has a plurality of pairs of display electrodes including scan electrodes and sustain electrodes formed on one surface of a glass substrate in a stripe shape, and a dielectric layer and a protective layer which cover the pairs of display electrodes. Each of the pairs of display electrodes includes a transparent electrode and an auxiliary electrode which is made of metal and is formed on the transparent electrode. The rear panel has a glass substrate, address electrodes, an underlying dielectric layer, barrier ribs, and phosphor layers. The plurality of address electrodes, the underlying dielectric layer for covering the address electrodes, and three kind of phosphor layers are provided on one surface of the glass substrate. The address electrodes are formed in a stripe shape in a direction perpendicular to the pairs of display electrodes. The barrier ribs partition the discharge space for each address electrode. The phosphor layers emit light of red, green and blue and are sequentially coated in adjacent grooves between the barrier ribs.
The pairs of display electrodes and the address electrodes are perpendicular to each other and intersections therebetween become discharge cells. These discharge cells are arranged in a matrix and three discharge cells having phosphor layers of red, green and blue, which are arranged in the direction of the pairs of display electrodes, form a pixel for color display. In the PDP, a voltage is applied between the scan electrode and the address electrode and between the scan electrode and the sustain electrode to generate gas discharge. The phosphor layers excited by ultraviolet rays which occur by the gas discharge emit light. Accordingly, the PDP displays a multicolor image.
On the front glass substrate, panel structure members such as the pairs of display electrodes and the dielectric layer are formed. On the rear glass substrate, panel structure members such as the address electrodes, the underlying dielectric layer, the barrier ribs, and the phosphor layer are formed.
A method of manufacturing the front panel and the rear panel will be described. First, a precursor of a panel structure member (a panel structure member precursor) is formed on the glass substrate and a patterning process is then performed using a photolithography method or a sand blast method as necessary. The precursor of the panel structure member is a material which becomes the panel structure member by firing and solidification and is made of an organic material such as resin and an inorganic material such as ceramic or glass. The glass substrate on which the panel structure member precursor is formed is loaded on a setter and introduced into a firing oven together with the setter. The panel structure member precursor is fired and solidified to form the panel structure member on the glass substrate. By repeating the patterning and the firing and solidification of the panel structure member precursor, a plurality of panel structure members are sequentially formed to manufacture the front panel and the rear panel. The temperature of the firing oven varies depending on the panel structure member, but is generally set to a high temperature, for example, 500° C. to 600° C. Accordingly, low-expansion coefficient crystallized glass is used as the setter and high strain point glass is used as the glass substrate (See Patent Document 1, for example).
However, the setter made of low-expansion coefficient crystallized glass is repeatedly subjected to the firing/solidifying steps, the crystal of a nucleating agent is gradually precipitated. For example, in Li2O—Al2O3—SiO2 low-expansion coefficient crystallized glass, Al2Ti2O7, ZrO2 or the like is precipitated as a nucleus. A portion in which the crystal is precipitated as the nucleus has a density higher than that of the other portions. The setter is slightly deformed due to the density difference. As a result, in the firing/solidifying step, the glass substrate may be rubbed and scratched by the setter which is slightly deformed.
Accordingly, when predetermined numbers of firing/solidifying steps are performed, the setter is replaced and thus productivity deteriorates.
Patent Document 1; Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2003-34657